Stuart A. Solin

He is a professor of physics at Washington University in St. Louis, Mo., where he was recently acknowledged as one of the leading physicists in the world.

Born and raised in Baltimore, Md., Dr. Solin attended Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He earned his bachelor’s degree in physics in just three years, graduating in 1963, before moving to West Lafayette, Ind., and earning two Purdue degrees – a master’s in 1965 and a doctorate in 1969.

He joined the University of Chicago faculty and became co-director of the National Science Foundation Materials Research Laboratory and served as a distinguished professor. Ten years later, Dr. Solin went to Michigan State University, where he organized and directed the Center for Fundamental Materials Research. He then joined the NEC Research Institute in Princeton, N.J., as a fellow, the highest scientific rank in the company. While there, he served as chair of its governing body.

As the author of more than 230 scientific articles and a host of scholarly reviews, and as editor or co-editor of several books, Dr. Solin has been widely published in his areas of specialization. In addition, he is a principal editor of the Journal of Materials Research and a member of the U.S. editorial advisory board for the Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter. He also holds 15 patents and received the Best Patent Award in 1998 as well as NEC's Technology Impact Award in 2000.

Dr. Solin joined Washington University's department of physics in 2002. In addition to teaching and research activities, he is chairing a task force to establish a new interdisciplinary materials center at Washington University that will bring together leading faculty from the schools of Arts & Sciences, Engineering and Applied Science, as well as other areas.

A leading figure in condensed matter physics and materials science, Dr. Solin's research focus is in fundamental physical phenomena in ordered solids, such as diamonds, and disordered solids, such as window glass. His contributions to the advancement of physics include the development of a number of experimental techniques for studying solids, including electron energy loss spectroscopy.

He led a research group that recently discovered the new phenomenon of extraordinary magnetoresistance (EMR), which has had an impact on many important technologies and was selected as one of the most significant discoveries of 2002 by the American Physical Society.